New viruses can affect UTSA computers

(Jan. 27, 2004)--Antivirus software companies are reporting a new set of
e-mail viruses, Mydoom and Novarg, that are being sent as e-mail attachments.
Once activated, they open a back door to an infected PC and then launch a
denial-of-service attack on some Web sites using the infected computers to
clog computer networks.

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The good news is that UTSA e-mail in-boxes are protected from viruses and
worms. The bad news is that these worms can be introduced to the UTSA network
by faculty and staff who check Web-based e-mail services such as Yahoo! Mail
or Hotmail. Often these free e-mail clients do not have a high level of anti-virus
protection.

A worm is a computer virus that replicates itself without human intervention.
If the victim has to open an e-mail attachment to get infected, it's a virus.
If it scans for new victims and attacks by itself, it's a worm.

E-mail messages that carry the Mydoom and Novarg worms appear as if they
contain an error message. The attachment usually will contain a file with
a ".zip" extension. If the user opens (by double-clicking) the attachment,
the worm will reside on the computer's hard drive, waiting for instructions
from another computer.

How do you protect your computer?

Even though your UTSA e-mail in-box is protected, never click
on an attachment unless you are certain of the contents and the sender.

The "From:" line on an e-mail message may actually
appear valid, but some viruses use real e-mail addresses in the messages
they generate.

In order to protect the UTSA network, you should avoid checking
other e-mail accounts from your UTSA computer.

For more information on e-mail viruses and worms, visit the Web sites of
anti-virus software makers such as Symantec
or McAfee.

If you need help with your UTSA PC, contact the Help Desk at 210-458-5538,
or the UTSA Office of Strategic Planning and Computer Security at 210-458-5899.